It would be normal for an auditor to access information through the responsible manager and to be given the information fairly quickly. The auditor is interested in the process of obtaining the information as well.

Otherwise the audit may be compromised.

Part of the planning for an audit is identifying the resources required to carry it out, not just the auditor but the auditees also. If there is a large body of data that needs to be collated for the audit that can be anticipated in the plan, but the auditor should not need to interface with the service desk for this (s/he may interface with the service desk, including putting forward requests as part of the audit of the processes) but rather go through management who should facilitate the request.

It makes no difference whether the audit is internal or external, if you take auditing seriously. Attempts to put the auditor through hoops has to be regarded with suspicion at the very least.

The auditor has one simple weapon available to counter this:

"No evidence was available at this time to indicate that the process/function/activity etc. has been working/controlled/performing to specification etc. during the period."

Lack of evidence cannot lead to a positive outcome._________________"Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope."
William Penn 1644-1718

Once upon a time there was a shepherd looking after his sheep on the side of a deserted road.

Suddenly a brand new Porsche screeches to a halt.

The driver, a man dressed in an Armani suit, Cerutti shoes, Ray-Ban sunglasses, TAG-Heuer wrist-watch, and a Pierre Cardin tie gets out and asks the shepherd,

'If I can tell you how many sheep you have, will you give me one of them?'

The shepherd looks at the young man, then looks at the large flock of grazing sheep and replies, 'Okay.'

The young man parks the car, connects his laptop to the mobile-fax, enters a NASA Website, scans the ground using his GPS, opens a database and 60 Excel tables filled with algorithms and pivot tables. He then prints out a 150-page report on his high-tech mini-printer, turns to the shepherd and says,

'You have exactly 1,586 sheep.'

The shepherd cheers, 'That's correct, you can have your sheep.'

The young man takes one of the animals from the flock and puts it in the back of his Porsche.

The shepherd looks at him and asks, 'If I guess your profession, will you return my animal to me?'

The young man answers, 'Yes, why not?'

The shepherd says, 'You are an auditor..'

'How did you know?' asks the young man.

'Very simple,' answers the shepherd. '

Firstly, you came here without being wanted.

Secondly, you charged me a fee to tell me something I already knew..

Thirdly, you don't understand anything about my business....'

'.....Now can I have my dog back?'

Auditors come down to complete a job. With zero risk findings, there performance management would be at stake. Its safer to expose them to the known risks about which you have tried to do something. Well, when they come at the cost of the company, they will have to find out something even out of nothing. Otherwise, they will not be visiting places.